Punxsutawney Man To Be Executed For 2000 Murder of Night Watchman

Governor Tom Corbett has signed an execution order for a Punxsutawney man who was convicted nearly twelve years ago in the 2000 murder of a night watchman in Jefferson County.

47 year-old Robert Rega is scheduled to be executed by lethal injection on January 28.

Rega was convicted and sentenced to death in 2002 in the murder of 50 year-old Christopher Lauth, from Marienville. Lauth was shot four times in the back and the head.

Prosecutors claimed Rega and several friends robbed a Barnett Township motor lodge four nights before Christmas in December, 2000. Rega allegedly shot Lauth while the other robbers were loading a safe into a car.